Underpressure in top form as he tries for Champions Day Classic repeat

A year ago, Underpressure finished sixth at Delta Downs and returned three weeks later to win the Louisiana Champions Day Classic by 3 1/2 lengths. This year, Underpressure won at Delta Downs and might be in even better form coming into his third start in the $150,000 Champions Day Classic, one of seven Thoroughbred stakes on an all-Louisiana-bred 13-race card Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Chris Richard trains Underpressure for owner Mallory Greiner, and Underpressure has been a rock of a racehorse. Twice-started as a 2-year-old, he raced 12 times in 2017, 11 in 2018, and is making his eighth start this year. His career earnings are approaching $600,000 and Underpressure, by Birdstone, nearly always races competitively in Louisiana-bred dirt-route stakes races like the Classic. Third in the race’s 2017 renewal, he’s shown he can stay the Classic’s nine furlongs, and Underpressure’s last-start victory at Delta, a racing surface he appears to tolerate more than appreciate, bodes well for his Classic chances.

So does the lack of strong opposition. Just seven other horses are entered and Underpressure has beaten all of them who have regularly competed in races like the Classic. He has yet to race against Trevilion, who has a case for being the main threat to Underpressure on Saturday.

Trevilion finished seventh last out as the 2-1 favorite in the $100,000 Delta Mile, but might have bounced coming back five weeks after a career-best performance in the $100,000 Gold Cup. His trainer, Victor Arceneaux, is batting .390 with his last 36 stakes starters and Trevilion, by Lone Star Special, has the look of a horse who might stay 1 1/8 miles in his first try over the trip.

Louisiana-bred stalwarts Mageez, Grande Basin, and Pound for Pound will hope Underpressure feels the pressure and fails to produce a top performance in the Saturday feature.

The Classic goes as race 10 on a program that starts at noon Central with three Quarter Horse races.

Champions Day Ladies

Trainer Wayne Catalano slapped a set of blinkers on Room to Finish in an allowance race four months ago at Arlington. She won that day with one of the better performances of her career, and in her next start, Nov. 29 at Fair Grounds, delivered another winning run. It looks like blinkers have gotten Room to Finish over the hump, and if that’s the case she can win the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Stakes at a fair price.

Room to Finish is one of 14 entries in the Ladies, a 1 1/16-mile grass race that can accommodate 11 starters. She’s 5-1 on the morning line, and such a price seems possible in what looks on paper like a race with about four main contenders.

The other primary considerations are Is Too, Mr. Al’s Gal, and Eskenformore.

Mr. Al’s Gal moved into the barn of trainer Jose Camejo this summer and made three starts on the East Coast facing open competition, the last of them an encouraging close fourth-place finish turf sprinting in a $100,000 Laurel Park stakes on Sept. 21. Mr. Al’s Gal stays one mile, but 1 1/16 miles pushes her distance limitations.

Is Too, the 3-1 morning-line favorite, also doesn’t truly want to run quite this far. She went 2 for 2 on the Fair Grounds grass course last meet, blowout wins both, but the races were at 7 1/2 furlongs and one mile, and Is Too’s forward running style comes into conflict with Mr. Al’s Gal and a couple other pace players.

Eskenformore stays Saturday’s distance more reliably than Mr. Al’s Gal and Is Too but needs her very best race, which we’ve already seen from this 6-year-old, to win at this level. Room to Finish, by contrast, might not yet be a finished product.

Champions Day Sprint

Trainer Ron Faucheux is off to the hottest of starts at this Fair Grounds meet and begins this racing week with an 8-6-0 record from 18 starters. He stands a solid chance of staying hot with three runners in the $100,000 Champions Day Sprint.

Monte Man finished third in this race a year ago, and his Faucheux stablemate Flashy Brew might be the horse for the moment. Hunker Down, Faucheux’s third runner, is a one-run stalking and closing type who could pick up tiring pace players.

Flashy Brew won back-to-back allowance races by open lengths last winter at Fair Grounds and comes into this race after a Dec. 5 thrashing of open first-level allowance dirt sprinters going the Sprint’s six-furlong trip at Fair Grounds. He’s back on short rest but won with such apparent ease earlier this month the quick turnaround might not pose any problem at all.